Raducanu stumbles to British No. 1 with Queen’s win

Emma Raducanu had the fates on her side as the former US Open winner whose career hti a sinkhole, provided some excitement at the WTA Queen’s club even by claiming the British no. 1 spot on Thursday.

The former New York champion whose career fell off a cliff after her extraordinary 2021 achievement, has managed to pull her game back together four years after the fact, and could be peaking just in time for Wimbledon.

Raducanu advanced on the Brit-friendly grass of Queen’s but is now the last local standing at the new WTA outing.

Raducanu defeated Slovak Rebecca Sramkova to reach the quarter-finals 6-4 6-1 on the  Andy Murray Arena.

“I am really pleased to get through that,” Raducanu said. “I don’t think it was my cleanest performance.

“But I am really pleased to push through in the tight moments. I really appreciate the support in that spell when she was coming back.

“I came out ready, expecting everything. I am just happy I was able to get off to a good start and build a lead.”

Raducanu shrugged off the loss of four games in a row in the opening set to reach the last eight in the end.

The Canadian-born Briton with a Romanian father and Chinese mother will bid for the semi-finals in London against Chinese top seed Zheng Qinwen, the Paris Olympic gold medalist.

Raducanu takes over from Katie Boulter as national No. 1 on Monday with just a fortnight to go before the June 30 start of Wimbledon.

Main photo:- Emma Raducanu returns to UK No. 1 today – by Mark Greenwood, GrandSlamTennis